Real Madrid and Ajax crowned on night of champions

Jose Mourinho's astonishing record of winning at least one league title with every team under his management continues after Real Madrid were officially crowned as La Liga champions on Wednesday evening.

Real had all but put paid to the hopes of Barcelona claiming a third successive Liga title with victory at the Nou Camp last month, while victory for Los Blancos against Athletic Bilbao clinched a first league triumph since 2008.

Gonzalo Higuain, Mesut Ozil and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo were on the scoresheet in a 3-0 win at San Mames, with the latter finding the net for the 58th time in another remarkable season.

Mourinho has now recorded league wins in Portugal with FC Porto, the Premier League with Chelsea, Italy's Serie A during his time in Milan and in Spain's top-flight.

But this season's title triumph, the Portuguese's seventh in total, represents the toughest he has achieved, given the extreme quality of Real's closest opposition.

“I won the league title in Portugal, Italy and England, but this one has been the toughest," Mourinho told RealMadrid.com.

"I’ve won seven league titles overall and I know what it feels like. Barcelona won all their games, as befits the great team that they are.

"They’ve been winning to the very last day. They are a club with great tradition that knows we deserved to win this title.”

Real, however, were not the only prominent side in Europe to be celebrating domestic glory on Wednesday, with Ajax defending their Eredivisie title with a win over VVV Venlo.

Although the achievements of Mourinho at the Santiago Bernabeu will receive the most recognition across the continent, Ajax can perhaps lay claim to a greater accomplishment, given their poor early season form.

Frank de Boer's side were eight points behind joint leaders PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar in February, but an impressive streak of 13 consecutive league wins has seen them tie up the title with a game to spare.

Ajax's league winning campaign has also been set against a back-drop of internal upheaval and uncertainty, with Johan Cruyff becoming involved in a boardroom dispute that threatened to derail the club's season.

The club had been set the targets of retaining the Eredvisie title and reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League and, with Ajax struggling in the league and failing to achieve the latter, the off-field power struggle intensified.

Cruyff took the club to court after other members of the five-man board of commissioners appointed Louis van Gaal as a new director without his knowledge.

"That was not a pleasant period as the club was divided into two groups and several people acted strangely and were avoiding their rivals," De Boer told Dutch weekly Voetbal International.

"For me, it felt like I had to choose between a son and a daughter in opting to take the side of either Cruyff or Van Gaal."

This dispute was apparently resolved when it when it was ruled by an Amsterdam judge that Van Gaal could not be appointed, and Ajax embarked on their winning run only two days later.

Elsewhere on the continent, Juventus saw their lead in Serie A cut to a single point after the Biaconeri could only muster a 1-1 draw against ten-man Lecce.

Had results been favourable for Juve on Wednesday, they could have clinched a first legitimate Scudetto in nine years but, as it stands, are only one point ahead of AC Milan with only two games remaining.

Milan, for their part, claimed a 2-0 win over Atalanta at the San Siro, with goals from Sulley Muntari and Robinho keeping them in contention for a second Serie A title in as many seasons.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Montpellier stuttered in their pursuit of a maiden Ligue 1 crown as they were held to a 2-2 draw with Evian Thonon Gaillard in a tense affair.

MHSC had the opportunity to claim all three points with a last minute penalty, but Souleymane Camara spurned the chance, while Younes Belhanda berated the club's top scorer Olivier Giroud for not taking the spot-kick himself.

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